No, 'reading' is not my hobby

It's OK to love reading.

In fact, educators and plebeians alike always encourage each other to nurture a love for gulping down books ever since they could comprehend the ABCs.

But I'm not going to say that 'reading' is my hobby.

As uncle O filled out an insurance-related form and asked for my personal bits, he asked for my hobby.

"Reading", Mom answered for me, "That has always been Toshi's hobby since childhood"

I protested amidst the IM chat in my handphone, "Nah Mom... You can't say that reading is my hobby!"

"And why is that?"

"Because it sounds gay"

Mom and Uncle O looked at each other and threw me a puzzled look.

"Huh?" they seemed perplexed.

Mom asked, "What's so gay with that? I know you've always loved reading. In fact, we all know"

"Trust me, it sounds gay. So um... Just fill it with 'swimming' instead"

"But I've never seen you swimming...", she sneered.

"Well I swim once a week FYI, thank you"

And I returned to my handphone.

You know, it's a commonly held notion amongst 8Days (a magazine in Singapore) readers and other American-oriented magazines that if you fill in your hobby as 'reading', they would deem you as gay.

It's an asinine stereotype indeed, but I'm certainly not going to let myself be trapped into being made fun of in this kind of trivia.

For guys (especially nerds) out there, no matter how much fervour you have for munching the tomes, beware not to fill in your hobby as 'reading'. Just a safety precaution of course, if you don't want to be made a laughing stock by others.